Michaela Pavlatova - Graveyard

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Who is Michaela Pavlatova

I’m a director, animator from Prague, Czech Republic.
For most of my life I have lived in Prague, making independent animation films (Words, words, words, Repete, Forever and Ever, Carnival of Animals) In the last few years I also have directed live action films (Prague Stories, Faithless Games). Between 1998 to 2002 I lived in San Francisco where I worked with Wild Brain Inc.

Your work is about...

Film: Graveyard (which is shown at your festival) deals with unlucky events which cause death. I am very much for dark humor and irony. This film is very “incorrect” which alot of fun was for me. Otherwise I like films about people, about relationships, and yes, always there is some funny link with my life.

Financing your movie?

Graveyard was financed by WildBrain studio in San Francisco. It was originally created for internet as an interactive site, you click on the grave and see the episode. Then we edited 5 minute versions of selected stories to the film.

Do your films have style, just as some painters have?

Graveyard is somehow an exception in my work. It is done in Flash for the purpose of internet streaming, the design as well as the animation is very simple.

Otherwise, when I make my own films, I use old traditional ways, hand drawn animation. I like to change styles, I think it is boring to stick all one's life just to one style, one kind of design. By the way, I still like Flash very much. It is a simple program which gives me absolute freedom and I can make animation right away.

Influences?

I am inspired by many things. I like modern dance (the group DV8 from Great Britain, performance De La Guardia), modern and old paintings, music, films (Zbygniew Rybczinski and many others), photography, in my inspiration everything melts together.

Digital or classic?

I love 35mm film. Shooting on video and is great and fast but does not work at all circumstances.

At the moment we are planning another live action film.
My dream? To have various work opportunities because I like animation as well as live action. I also illustrate books from time to time. I like to paint. It is good to change mediums/medias, it keeps you fresh and enthusiastic.



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